Pokemon Amber: The Untold Memoir
by Merrie Khriste Masse
Summary: He's never been seen. In fact, he's only been mentioned once within the whole entire animated series to date; even then, it was by his wife to his son - an up and coming pokemon trainer named Ash Ketchum. Who is this unknown man? Find out in this prequel.
1. Chapter 1

Night was falling across the horizon of Violet City but not everything was calm. An argument ensued shortly after supper was finished at a family residence. It was not uncommon for this type of thing to happen at this particular homestead but the ensuing outcome was most definitely a first.

"Tony, get back here! Do you hear me?" the older man bellowed as he chased after Tony.

"No way! You're more hot headed than a Magmar using Overheat!" Tony yelled back as he pulled out a pokeball and threw it into the air. "Charizard, come on out! Let's get air born!"

Upon being released from its pokeball, Charizard roared once and grabbed a hold of Tony before taking off into the air. The older man gasped and shielded his eyes from the flying dust. As soon as he was able to see clearly again, he shook a fist at Tony.

"Come back down here, NOW!" he demanded of the dark haired youth.

"No, Dad. I'm not a little kid that you can just boss around anymore." Tony said as he climbed over Charizard's shoulder to seat himself at the base Charizard's neck.

"Anthony Ketchum, if you leave now, I - I'll disown you!" the elder Ketchum exclaimed.

"If that's how you feel... Let's go Charizard." Tony calmly replied as his pokemon gracefully made a wide arc in the air and headed south-east towards the Kanto region. Out of his father's sight, a few stray tears streamed down his face.

Well after midnight, Charizard landed in the foothills north of Cherrygrove City. To emotionally exhausted to do much of anything else - much less look for a Poke-Center to lodge in, Tony curled up in a fetal position and quickly fell asleep next to Charizard's warm body.

* * *

Morning came far too quickly for Tony. Before he knew it, a wild Chikorita woke him up with a start. Rubbing some of the sleepiness from his eyes, Tony got his bearings then looked at the pokemon that had aroused him from his sleep.

"What the - Charizard, what are you doing with that Chikorita?" Tony exclaimed, now fully awake and on his feet.

Charizard roared before indicating to Tony that it was in the process of battling the small grass type pokemon. Chikorita took the momentary distraction to slap at Charizard with its Vine Whip attack. Bellowing in rage, Charizard caught the vines in its claws and dragged Chikorita up into the air as it prepared to slam Chikorita into the ground by means of its Aerial Ace attack.

A split second before it was released from Charizard's attack, Chikorita blasted Poison Powder in Charizard's direction. The impacted force of Chikorita slamming into the ground caused a cloud of dust to surround the combatants. When the dust settled, Chikorita was unconscious and Charizard lay on its side, in pain due to the poison powder's effects.

"No, Charizard! Hang in there, buddy!" Tony pleaded as he returned his only pokemon into its pokeball. He turned to get an empty pokeball for Chikorita when he remembered the events of the previous evening. "Oh... yeah. The other pokeballs are at home and since Dad disowned me, I don't have a home to go home to so that I could retrieve them."

Sighing, Tony pocketed Charizard's pokeball and carefully picked up Chikorita. A rumble coming from his stomach reminded Tony to get to the nearest Poke-Center soon or he'd be as unconscious as the pokemon he carried.

* * *

"Nurse Joy!" Tony exclaimed as soon as he saw her come out of the examination room. "How are they?"

"They'll live." Nurse Joy said with a good natured smile as she handed him Charizard's pokeball. "But Tony, why was your Chikorita outside of its pokeball?"

"Actually, that's a wild Chikorita. I woke up and found it battling at full force with my Charizard. I would have caught it but all of my empty pokeballs are back in Violet City and most likely have been thrown out by now."

"What do you mean?" Nurse Joy asked out of concern. She had known the Ketchums for a number of years and thus knew of the infamous short temper that the elder Ketchum had which lead to many an argument between father and son. After a brief wave and smile to a brown haired young woman who had just entered the Poke-Center, she gasped and turned her attention back to Tony. "Don't tell me that your father kicked you out."

"Worse, he disowned me." Tony sighed as he leaned against the closest wall and closed his eyes. "No home, no pokeballs, not even some decent travel equipment! I'm screwed."

"Um, excuse me. I have something for you." came a voice that was unfamiliar to Tony.

As soon as Tony opened his eyes, he saw the young woman who had just entered the Poke-Center moments before. In her outstretched hand was a pokeball. A compassionate smile broadened across her face.

"I - I can't accept it. I wouldn't be able to repay you for the pokeball anytime soon." Tony said with gratitude in his voice.

"Then don't pay it back. It's a gift. I insist. I couldn't help but overhear some of your conversation." she said as she firmly placed the pokeball in Tony's hands. "My name's Cordelia. What's yours?"

"Anthony Ketchum, but just about everybody calls me Tony. Thanks for the pokeball, Cordelia." Tony said before facing Nurse Joy. "May I see that Chikorita now?"

"I don't see why not." Nurse Joy said with a grin. "Follow me, please."

* * *

Upon entering the room that Chikorita was resting in, Tony had a better chance to examine the now awake pokemon. It looked different than any other Chikorita he had ever saw before. It's body was a more brilliant, almost neon, green in color and the leaf on its head was brown.

"Is it normal?" Tony mindlessly wondered out loud.

"Chiko? Chikorita!" Chikorita said with a huff as Tony got closer, as if to say, "Normal? Of course I'm normal, I'm me!"

"I think it's safe to say that you have a healthy Chikorita on your hands. It's coloring is different but that's part of what makes it special." Nurse Joy said.

"S'pose you're right, Nurse Joy." Tony said before looking Chikorita in the eyes. "Hey, Chikorita. That was a pretty impressive battle you had with Charizard. How would you like to travel with us?"

"Chi? Chikorita Chiko? Chikorita!" the pokemon said, at first incredulous but then certainly happy at the prospect. It walked to the edge of the bed and touched the release button on the pokeball in Tony's hand. In a flash, Chikorita was snuggly inside the pokeball.

"All right! I have a Chikorita!" Tony exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Way to go, Tony." Cordelia congratulated him from her position near the doorway.

"Thanks." Tony replied.

"If you don't mind me asking, where will you go from here?" Nurse Joy asked.

"I... I'm not sure. I can tell you for a fact where I'm not going anytime soon. Home. I was thinking of heading towards the Kanto region. Maybe try my luck against the gym leaders and the Pokemon League. After that is anyone's guess." Tony said after a few moments of thought.

"May I join you?" Cordelia piped up. "I was heading for Pallet Town myself and I could use some human company."

"I don't know.." Tony said with uncertainty.

"If you want, you can consider it repayment for the pokeball. Plus I'm a pretty good cook!" Cordelia replied with a cute giggle.

"Okay, I guess we can go together." Tony shrugged. "When you're ready to leave, we'll head out."

"Actually, I'm ready now. This was my last pit stop in Cherrygrove City before heading east." Cordelia grinned. "By the way, Nurse Joy. I gave that item you requested to Chansey."

"Thank you, Cordelia." Nurse Joy said as she lead the two youths out to the main waiting room of the Poke-Center.

Having caught his first pokemon in a long time, Tony waved good-bye to Nurse Joy as he and Cordelia left the Poke-Center and began their adventure due east to the Kanto region.


	2. Chapter 2

Walking down the dirt road to New Bark Town, Tony yawned. He probably would have reached the next stop on his travels by now if it was just Charizard and himself. It wasn't that Cordelia was a boring person, far from it. In Tony's mind's eye, it simply proved difficult if not impossible to talk to her about the things he deemed important without getting the feeling that he was boring her to death.

Cordelia, on the other hand, longed to ask him a ton of questions, but didn't want to annoy him and feel like she was intruding upon subjects that Tony might not want to talk about. The two of them continued in silence until they reached the edge of the woods. From a distance, they saw a person running towards them from New Bark Town.

"I wonder who that is." Cordelia voiced the question on both of their minds.

"Probably a new trainer." Tony replied with interest as the person got closer.

"Hey, are either of you a pokemon trainer?" the newcomer asked as soon as she got close enough to communicate normally.

"I am." Tony declared. "What's up?"

"Oh, wow! My first day as a trainer and I find someone to battle with right off the bat!" the girl squealed.

"Wait a minute. Just because I'm a trainer doesn't mean I want to battle." Tony spouted.

"What's the matter? Afraid that my pokemon will beat yours?" the girl taunted.

"No. That's not it at all!" Tony exclaimed in annoyance. "Who the heck are you, anyway?"

"I'm your next opponent, unless you're too scared to battle me." she teased.

"Oh my.." Cordelia muttered as she saw that Tony's ire had been provoked.

"Nobody calls Anthony Ketchum a chicken and gets away without eating their words!" Tony exclaimed as he pulled out Chikorita's pokeball.

"That's more like it!" the girl replied as she tossed up her pokeball. "Totodile, let's go!"

"Chikorita, let's show this upstart that we have the upper hand!" Tony said as he also threw out his pokeball.

As both trainer's pokemon emerged, Tony smirked. Not only did his pokemon have a type advantage, but he himself had several years more experience.

"Use Water Gun!" the girl commanded of her pokemon.

"Chikorita, dodge it and use Vine Whip to get closer to that Totodile." Tony called out.

As Totodile's attack neared the plant type pokemon, Chikorita dashed out of the way and extended its vines to wrap around Totodile's lithe body. The girl gasped with uncertainty. She wasn't prepared for a battle with a pokemon that was just that more quicker than her own. In a way, Tony was surprised as well, but more so impressed than anything else - after all, Chikorita did nearly defeat his own higher leveled Charizard.

"Use Bubble Beam, Totodile!" Without anywhere else to turn, the attack hit Chikorita straight in the face.

"Now Chikorita! Use Poison Powder!" Tony growled in anger.

"No! Totodile, return!" the girl cried out, while returning Totodile into its pokeball.

"What? Why did you do that for?" Tony shouted with a snort. "You started this battle, you should see it through to the very end, otherwise you have no right to demand a battle with every trainer you come in contact with!"

"You're right." The girl said dejectedly. "I'm sorry. It was my first day as a trainer. I guess I got a bit overconfident." She paused for a second, quietly trying to amend. "By the way, my name is Suriya."

"Nice to meet you, Suriya. My name's Cordelia." Cordelia replied while stepping closer to the pair of trainers.

Tony wanted to harangue some more, but one of Cordelia's hands landing lightly on his arm somehow managed to quell his anger. Tony looked uncertainly over at Cordelia, then at Suriya before sighing.

"To tell you the truth, that was Chikorita's first battle outside of the fight it had with Charizard before it joined us." Tony said.

"Chiko?" Chikorita wondered as it looked out at the horizon with wonder in its eyes.

"Huh? What is it Chikorita?" Tony asked before looking in the same direction.

"Oh dear. It looks like a storm's heading this way." Cordelia mused as she gazed at the fast approaching darkened rain clouds.

"What? The weatherman said there wasn't going to be a drop of rain today!" Suriya groaned.

"Time to get a new weatherman!" Tony said with a snigger before pulling out Chikorita's pokeball. "Return, Chikorita."

"Let's go! My Totodile might like the rain, but I don't." Suriya exclaimed.

"Right!" Tony and Cordelia said with a nod before following her to the closest building in New Bark Town.

* * *

"Thanks for the use of the towels, Professor." Cordelia said to Professor Elm as the trio dried themselves off.

"Yeah, thanks Professor Elm. I appreciate it." Tony added. "That sudden downpour caught us by surprise. If my Chikorita hadn't alerted us, we would have been even more drenched than we already were."

"That's quite all right." Professor Elm replied. Having all ready been told about how they met Suriya, the pokemon professor then asked, "Tony, may I have a look at that Chikorita of yours?"

"Uh, sure. I guess." Tony agreed as he released the pokemon from its pokeball.

"Fascinating." Professor Elm said moments later after giving Chikorita an once over and tested it for its attacks. "Chikorita's definitely something special all right. "You're lucky to have caught it."

"I'm just glad things turned out the way they did." Tony said with a slight flush to his face. Nothing was mentioned to Professor Elm about how Tony caught Chikorita and quite frankly Tony was not wanting to reopen those proverbial wounds that were still a bit to fresh in his mind.

"Chiko!" Chikorita exclaimed as it ran to the large sliding glass window. The sun had just begun to penetrate through the ominous cloud cover as the rain let up. A stray sun beam shined through the window. Chikorita closed its eyes and smiled as it soaked in some of the sunlight and sparkled for all of a few seconds.

"What's going on?" Tony asked in confusion. Having mainly trained with fire type pokemon, Tony wasn't sure what Chikorita was doing.

"It's called Synthesis. You mentioned the battle that Chikorita had with Suriya's Totodile before showing up here. By using Synthesis, Chikorita is able to restore some of its health accordingly depending on the weather." Professor Elm explained.

"Oh. Cool!" Tony replied with a broad grin.

"Indeed." Cordelia agreed with a nod.

"There's something I don't understand though. When I tested out Chikorita's attacks, I wasn't surprised when I saw Poison Powder or Vine Whip. What got me was that Chikorita knew Magical Leaf. If Chikorita knows that particular attack, then it's at a high enough level to be able to have evolved into Bayleef by now."

"What?" Tony said in surprise as he looked over at Chikorita who by that time had curled up near the window and dosed off. "I wonder why it hasn't evolved. But then, since it can't tell me directly, perhaps I'll never know. Oh well. If and when it evolves, that'll be fine by me."

"Now that the rain has stopped, I better get moving. I'm now officially a late starter for my journey." Suriya mentioned as she headed towards the doorway.

"We should get going too. It's still quite a distance between here and Pallet Town, more so for the rest of the Kanto region." Cordelia mentioned.

"Yeah. That storm took a sizable chunk out of our daylight travel time." Tony added. "Good luck Suriya, and remember to follow through with your battles!"

"I will." Suriya said as she waved and left to start on her travels.

Professor Elm turned to face Cordelia and Tony.

"May I ask a favor of you two? I have something that needs to be returned to Professor Oak in Pallet Town. I've been really busy lately and couldn't return it myself." Professor Elm requested.

"Uh, sure I guess." Tony said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Wonderful." Professor Elm replied as he handed over a pokeball. "This is Professor Oak's Seaking. Thank you and best of luck getting there."

"We'll make sure it gets there." Tony said as he pocketed the pokeball. "Good bye, Professor. C'mon, Cordelia. We're wasting time!"

Cordelia waved to Professor Elm before running to catch up with the now far ahead Tony.


	3. Chapter 3

"Let's stay here for the night." Cordelia mentioned to Tony.

They were still quite a distance away from the mountain range that separated the two regions and that made Tony a bit uneasy.

"I'd rather keep moving, but I suppose we could camp here for now." Tony replied while surveying the clearing that they had stopped at.

A river cut through the clearing and on the other side of the river a number of berry producing trees and bushes grew.

"Charizard, Chikorita! Come on out." Tony exclaimed as he released his pokemon. As the two pokemon stood before him, he pointed out the plants. "How about getting some of those berries for us to eat?"

The two pokemon looked at him, then at each other and back at him. The looks on their faces said it all; "You expect me to cooperate with THAT pokemon?"

"Oh, come on!" Tony griped. "You'll have to start working with each other sooner or later and it might as well be now."

"Chikorita, chiko chik." Chikorita said as it shook its head in disgust.

Charizard snorted and turned its back towards Chikorita as if to say, "I'd rather it be later. How does the twelfth of never sound to you?"

Unfortunately, when Charizard turned, its tail sideswiped Chikorita's body, causing it to fall into the quick running river with a splash.

"Chiko!" Chickorita cried in alarm. A moment later, it let loose its vine whips to grab a hold of anything that it could so that it wouldn't be swept away in the current. Cordelia and Tony were quick enough to grab one vine, although the strength of the river was making them lose ground.

Through gritted teeth, Tony snapped, "Charizard, help us save Chikorita! Please!"

At first, Charizard considered disobeying Tony, but the look on Tony's face made it reconsider. Charizard didn't want to cause Tony more grief, so it grabbed onto the other vine and the three of them began to pull. They made very slow progress and were beginning to tucker out.

"Tony, what if we got Seaking to help?" Cordelia asked between exhausted gasps of air.

"I'm not sure if Seaking'll agree to it, but it's worth asking anyway." Tony said. With one hand still firmly holding onto the vine, Tony released Seaking from its pokeball. "Seaking, can you help us get Chikorita out of the river?"

"Seaking sea!" the water pokemon agreed as it submerged itself into the river and came up under Chikorita's body so all that Charizard had to do was swoop down and pick Chikorita up. As soon as Charizard landed, Tony sighed and sank to his knees. Cordelia glared at Chikorita and Charizard.

"I'm ashamed at you two. Tony asked you to do some simple task and you both behaved like spoiled brats!" Cordelia chided the two pokemon. "Now apologize to Tony and this time behave!"

That did it. One moment Chikorita and Charizard looked as shamefaced as a couple of children having just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar and the next moment, they were looking at Tony as if he had just lost his mind. For several long minutes, Tony was rolling around on the ground and laughing his head off.

"Sorry. I'm sorry." Tony said between large gasps of air. When he was able to talk normally, he said, "Really, I am sorry. It just seemed a bit hilarious that you were chiding them as if they were naughty human children. You'll make one heck of a mother if you ever decide to have children of your own."

At that, Cordelia was speechless as her whole face blushed a beet red in color. The compliment caught her off guard.

"Seaking. Thanks a lot for helping us get Chikorita out of the river." Tony said as he looked over at the water pokemon. Turning his attentions to his own pokemon he said, "Now, if you two will work together this time, we'll have some berries as a part of our dinner."

* * *

The next morning, Tony woke up more relaxed and energized than he had been in a long time. After a light breakfast, Cordelia, Tony and his two pokemon took a few moments to gather extra berries and refill their canteens with the water from the river before starting on the next part of their journey.

"Do you have any pokemon?" Tony asked Cordelia a short while later.

"No. I couldn't see the point in catching pokemon and training them to battle. Not that there's anything wrong in that for those who do. I would be just as happy befriending a wild pokemon as you might be when you've gained your pokemon's love, trust and devotion." she responded.

"I see. So how did you wind up in possession of that pokeball that you gave me?" Tony furrowed his eyebrows questioningly.

"I did a friend a favor and they insisted on giving me something as thanks. Before I could object, the pokeball was in my hands and they refused to take it back." Cordelia explained, happy now that Tony was opening up and asking questions. "What about you? How did you meet your Charizard?"

"Charizard? My mom gave him to me as a surprise present when we moved to Violet City - Of course it was only a Charmander then." Tony stopped walking as his gaze wandered off at the memory. Shaking his head to clear away the memory, Tony exclaimed as cheerily as he could muster, "Let's go! The sooner we get to Pallet Town, the sooner we can return Seaking to Professor Oak."

Taking a mental note of his brief glazed over expression, Cordelia wondered at the thoughts and memories that Tony kept bottled up. Past experience told her that one of these days, he just might let her in on some of his pent up secrets without using force or pushing him away. With a nod, Cordelia walked along beside Tony towards their next destination.


	4. Chapter 4

Several days and a number of wild pokemon encounters later, Tony and Cordelia - who by that point in time insisted that he call her Delia - found themselves roughly mid-way through the mountainous range between Kanto and Johto. Coming around the base of a mountain, the two of them came across a clearing that was in the preparation stages of construction.

"I wonder what they're going to build..." Tony muttered.

"I'm wondering that too, not to mention the fact that this place is exactly how it was when I passed by some time ago." Delia replied.

"Huh? You passed this way before? And without any pokemon of your own? Are you nuts?" Tony exclaimed as he wondered how she could have survived considering the amount of pokemon they've come across.

"I never said I was alone. I was traveling with another trainer." Delia piped up in self-defense.

"Sorry." Tony sighed. "I'm not sure why I'm so jumpy. If this place is as it was back then, then I'm also curious as to why it hasn't gotten any further in its progress."

"It does seem a bit too quiet." Delia agreed.

"Now that my curiosity has been piqued, I have just got to find out." Tony said as he tossed up Charizard's pokeball. "Charizard, come on out. We have a mystery on our hands."

With a roar upon release, Charizard took to the air immediately.

"Look for anyone or anything that could tell us why this place is abandoned." Tony commanded of Charizard.

As soon as Charizard started off on its search, Chikorita released itself from its pokeball.

"Chikorita, what are you doing?" Tony asked in utter confusion.

"I think Chikorita wants to help too and is a bit jealous that you'd only ask Charizard for help." Delia said as she took note of the way Chikorita began its own way of searching.

"Is that true, Chikorita?" Tony asked as he knelt down next to the plant pokemon.

Chikorita stopped its search and looked up at Tony. At first, Chikorita appeared on the verge of tears, then it puffed out its narrow chest and turned away from Tony.

"Chi chikorita chiko!" it said with a huff.

"Oh, come on, Chikorita. Charizard is just simply able to do things that you can't, is all. But think of it this way, you can do things that Charizard can't, too." Tony said as he put a hand on Chikorita's back.

"Chi, chiko?" Chikorita questioned while barely turning its head to eye Tony.

"What do you mean, 'like what?' You can proudly proclaim that you were the first plant pokemon that came this close..." Tony said as he brought an index finger and a thumb less than a quarter inch apart. "...this close from beating my Charizard, a fire pokemon that had not only a type advantage but also more experience in fighting than you did."

"Chiko..." Chikorita snorted.

"I'm not just saying that to build upon your ego. Honest." Tony replied. "I'll tell you what. If you can try to not be jealous of the relationship between Charizard and myself, I'll try to ask for your help more often, okay?"

"Chiko chiko!" Chickorita agreed with a happy nod after contemplating what Tony had said.

"Great. Now let's get going." Tony exclaimed as he jumped up.

After a fruitless search by both land and air, Tony decided to call the search off.

"It's annoying, but what else can we do? It's not like we were sent here to check up on the construction site's progress." Tony sighed, disappointed that nothing could be found. "Another unsolved mystery to file away."

That night, after Tony curled up to sleep between Chikorita and Charizard and Delia was snug within her sleeping bag, a rumbling through the ground below them caused confusion between both pokemon and human alike. Seconds later, a mound of dirt, rock and assorted earthen items erupted to their left as a Steelix arose out of the freshly dug hole that it had made. After Steelix hauled itself out of the hole, its trainer followed suit and took in a deep breath of fresh air.

"Come on, Steelix. We have work to do." the trainer said as he turned the helmet mounted flashlight from narrow beam to wide.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Tony demanded after making sure that both Delia and himself were alright and standing.

"Huh? There are other people here?" the unidentified trainer wondered out loud as he turned to face Tony. The light from his helmet nearly blinded Tony. "Don't you know that you're trespassing on private property?"

"No, we didn't know. There were no signs and nobody around to tell us so until now." Tony glared in the general direction of the other trainer.

"I'll tell you what. If you can defeat me in battle, I won't report you to the authorities." the trainer challenged with a hint of cruelty in his voice.

The tone and unspoken statement from the unknown trainer told Tony that he was dealing with trouble.

"Tony, be careful." Delia quietly cautioned.

"What's with the 'if I win...' business? How about when I win, you not only don't report us, you also answer our questions!" Tony replied with all intentions of being the victor.

"Fine. Then when I win, I'll report you and claim your pokemon as my own!"

"Keep on dreaming! Charizard, let's heat things up! Surround that Steelix with Flamethrower!" Tony shouted.

"Steelix, dodge it by digging underground." the unknown trainer exclaimed.

With a growl, Steelix went head first into the ground moments before the fiery attack could connect.

"Charizard, fly up and prepare for Aerial Ace as soon as Steelix emerges." Tony commanded.

"And what happens if Steelix doesn't emerge?" taunted the trainer.

"Then this battle's over and I win by default. Chikorita, flood the tunnels with Poison Powder and flush Steelix out!" Tony called out.

Chikorita was more than happy to oblige. Seconds later, Steelix reappeared roaring in pain.

"What?" Steelix's trainer exclaimed in surprise.

"Now, Charizard." Tony shouted.

From it's high up position, Charizard dived and executed the attack flawlessly, knocking Steelix out.

"No way! You cheated by using two pokemon against my one!" the trainer bellowed.

"We never agreed to only using one pokemon each." Tony replied coolly. "So what? I work with what I have. I just happen to have two pokemon. You can't go blaming others for deviating their attack strategies. This was a battle that shouldn't have started. Now answer our questions. Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"My name's unimportant. I came here to delay if not prevent the construction crew from making this valley into another city."

"So it was you, Rodney." a female voice shot out from the darkness a moment before several flood lights were powered up to reveal that the place was surrounded by the construction foreman and a squad of police officers. "I'm ashamed to even be related to you."

"But Ronda..." Rodney weakly protested.

"No buts, cousin." Ronda said grimly. "Because of your exploits, my crew is severely behind schedule and well over budget. Officers, take him away."

Delia and Tony glanced at each other. There had to be another solution that would be better than what Ronda had in mind. Tony looked over at Steelix's inert form and an idea suddenly took shape.

"Hey, wait up." Tony exclaimed as he and Delia walked towards Ronda.

"Who are you?" Ronda asked.

"I'm Tony and this is Delia. We kind of stumbled across Rodney when he showed up." Tony explained to the female foreman.

"How do you do?" Delia said with a smile.

After returning the smile, Ronda's expression became serious. "I suppose you'll be wanting the reward we posted."

"Reward? No, that's not necessary. I just had a thought. What if you had Rodney work off the damage he caused?"

"Maybe..." Ronda said as she mulled over the suggestion. A wicked grin spread across her face. "Are you sure you don't want the reward? I'm willing to toss Rodney's Steelix into the mix to teach him a lesson."

"What? You can't go giving away my Steelix!" Rodney exclaimed.

Two police officers had to hold him back from lunging towards his cousin.

"Why not? You were about to take someone else's pokemon without another thought." Ronda replied. "At any rate, I'll consider your idea, Tony. Maybe Rodney can do something useful for once."

Tony tried not to yawn, but with all the excitement, his energy was almost completely spent.

"I wouldn't want to take his pokemon anyway. The only thing I could use at the moment is a good night's sleep." he replied. "We could discuss anything else in the morning." 


	5. Chapter 5

"After you went to bed, Rodney and I had a long discussion." Ronda said grimly.

It was mid-morning and Ronda sat at the cluttered wooden table within her sizable tent. Tony mentally wagered that the tent was big enough to let his Charizard roam free without touching the canvas walls, even when it was fully outstretched. If it wasn't for the fact that there were so many paper files laying about, Tony would have asked if he could have tested his theory.

"We're not going to press charges against him, provided he works with us to get the construction back on track."

"Did he ever tell you why he didn't want construction to happen in the first place?" Delia asked, curious as to what the answer would be.

"No and he probably won't say anything about it any time soon." Ronda replied as she shook her head. "Now. I know you said you didn't want the reward we had for information leading to the capture of the person involved with our problems, however I have something for you anyway."

"But..." Tony started to protest.

"No buts. I have little patience for objections. What I have in mind is this sleeping bag that Rodney had borrowed from me some time ago before he started his mid-night escapades. We only recovered it a few hours ago and I know for a fact that he won't be using it anymore."

"I don't know what to say." Tony muttered.

"Then don't say anything. The sleeping bag's my personal thanks for what you've done. And besides, the ground looked uncomfortable for you last night. I don't know how you're able to withstand it." Ronda said.

"I didn't do that much." Tony replied. A glare from Ronda caused Tony to stumble over his own words to amend what he said. "Uh, you're welcome? Thanks for the sleeping bag. I'll make good use of it. That didn't sound right."

A chuckle from both Ronda and Delia caused Tony to blush lightly before joining in their laughter.

* * *

"Does receiving items that you feel that you didn't earn always make you nervous?" Delia asked Tony a few days later, after they had put some distance between themselves and the construction site.

"I suppose you could say that, yes." Tony replied.

"I see." Delia stated simply. "But Tony, what's so very wrong with them expressing their gratitude?"

"What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong!" Tony griped. He withdrew a folded over envelope from a back pocket. "I told them that I wasn't interested in the reward, yet they go and stick this check into the sleeping bag that Ronda gave me anyway! I hate feeling like a charity case."

"Anthony Ketchum, I'm appalled. They were merely giving you something that they felt that you deserved. They would have given it to anyone who helped them but it was you. You were the one that single handedly stopped a person who was causing the construction crew various problems. They didn't give the reward to you simply to take pity on someone. How could they? I didn't tell them anything, I wouldn't even if I knew all about your problems. And I'm pretty sure you're not the type to put on a 'take pity on me' attitude. Intended or not, you did help those people back there." Delia chided Tony.

"You're right." Tony replied, properly chastised. "I suppose I'm being an idiot about it all."

"Yes, you are." Delia said with a mock frown and turned her face away. A few seconds of silence passed before she turned to face Tony with a small smile. "But at least you're big enough of a person to admit when you are being one."

Tony's jaw dropped as if he was about to respond but couldn't find the words to speak. Instead, he placed a hand at the back of his neck as he nervously chuckled. His cheeks turned a light shade of pink due to the unexpected compliment.

* * *

Four days later, Tony and Delia found themselves out of the mountain range at last. Behind them were the mountains they just left. To the north was a dirt path that would eventually lead Tony to Viridian City. Ahead was a spacious landscape, with an occasional tree dotting the expanse of open space. What really caught Tony's attention was the slow moving river that flowed southeast past Pallet Town and out into the sea. At the not so distant sight of their destination, Tony released all three pokemon.

"Charizard, Chikorita, come on out! You too, Seaking! It's too nice a day to be cooped up in your pokeballs." Tony exclaimed.

Upon being released, all three pokemon vocalized their contentment at having a bit of fun in the sun. Charizard eventually decided to settle down and take a nap while Seaking decided to spray some water in Chikorita's direction.

"We're almost there." Delia said with a smile. "As soon as we reach Pallet Town and talk with Professor Oak, I'm going to take a nice long bubble bath."

"It'll be nice to be in a city for a while. After that, my real journey will begin. I'm not sure how long it'll take me, but I'm sure it'll be worth it." Tony smirked.

"As long as you don't forget those you met along the way." Delia said with a faint blush.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Tony replied. Taking another good look around, something seemed missing. Charizard was still laying on it's side, sunbathing. Chikorita decided to join Charizard. "Hey, where's Seaking?"

"Chiko?" Chikorita asked as it raised it's head and blinked it's sleep filled eyes a few times.

Suddenly wide awake, Chikorita went to the edge of the river and sniffed carefully. Charizard yawned loudly and took off into the air. At roughly the same time, both pokemon indicated that Seaking was most likely downstream.

Following his pokemon, Tony ran down along side the riverbed with Delia close behind him. It took only a matter of minutes before they found the missing pokemon near the rivers edge, happily splashing water on a man in a white lab coat that Tony didn't remember seeing before.

"Seaking, why'd you swim off like that? We were worried about you." Tony told the water pokemon as soon as he was close enough. Turning to the man, Tony nervously chuckled. "Sorry about that. I don't know what got into Seaking."

"That's quite all right." he replied before facing Delia. "Nice to see that you've made it back to Pallet Town, Delia."

"It's good to be back." Delia said with a smile.

"Huh? You two know each other?" Tony said, royally confused.

"Oh, of course. Where are my manners? My name's Professor Oak." the professor introduced himself.

"You're Professor Oak? I guess that explains Seaking's wandering. It must have known you were near by and wanted to see you again." Tony mused before adding, "Nice to meet you. I'm Anthony Ketchum, but everybody calls me Tony."

* * *

Inside his laboratory, Professor Oak sat and drank down some freshly brewed tea as Tony described what had happened for the past few weeks.

"Fascinating." Professor Oak said after Tony finished his narration. "Seaking must have found something in you that it liked. It usually doesn't agree to help anyone right off the bat without knowing them first. I'd like to ask you something. When did you get Charizard?"

"Charizard? I'd say roughly eight years ago. Seems like forever though." came Tony's answer.

"Eight years ago, you say? Mmm, yes. That does seem to be when I saw it last." Professor Oak muttered to himself while lost in thought.

The resulting silence made Tony on edge and confused. What did Professor Oak mean? Before Tony could ask, a knock on the door brought Professor Oak out of his revelry. The door opened and Delia let herself in.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." Delia said, once she closed the door behind her.

"No, not at all. I was just asking Tony how he got his start with his Charizard." Professor Oak explained.

"My mom gave me a Charmander about eight years ago, shortly after we moved from Viridian City to Violet City in the Johto region."

"If my speculations are right..." Professor Oak's sentence trailed off as once again his mind wandered.

"Professor?" Delia prompted.

"Oh, sorry." Professor Oak said as he shook his head. "I believe that your mom came here to pick up your starter pokemon. I remember a woman coming to the laboratory to pick up her son's starter pokemon because he was unfortunately unable to do it himself. I always wondered what became of her and Charmander."

"Mom sure surprised me with Charmander. I never even told her which one I wanted, yet when she handed Charmander over to me, I knew that Charmander was the one I would have ultimately chose anyway." Tony replied.

"Your mother seems very nice." Delia commented.

"Yeah." Tony sighed before becoming extremely quiet as he looked down at his feet.

"How is your mother doing?" Professor Oak asked.

"She died shortly afterwards." Tony said as he shut his eyes tightly in attempt to hold back the tears that threatened to pour out at any moment.

"I'm sorry." Delia uttered as she placed a hand on his shoulder as a comforting gesture.

"I shouldn't have asked." Professor Oak uttered.

"No, it's all right. You didn't know." Tony said quietly as he wiped his shirt sleeve across his face. Tony suddenly excused himself and ran outside to get some fresh air.


	6. Chapter 6

An hour had passed before Professor Oak and Delia went to find Tony. When they located him, Tony had his forehead pressed up against Charizard's forehead. The gesture between pokemon and trainer was one that neither would have had expected anyone else to understand. For a while, nobody said a word. Delia and the pokemon professor waited until Tony was willing and able to speak with them.

"This is the pits. Even after all these years, I thought I was finally over it and suddenly I find myself hurting deep inside again. Sometimes I just really hate having emotions."

"Losing someone you love does hurt, but that is a part of life. Before you start on your long overdue journey, come and talk with me. I've something to ask of you."

"Right." Tony said with a nod before Professor Oak retreated to his laboratory.

Delia stood there and at first seemed interested in the scenery that filled the vast expanse of the field behind Professor Oak's laboratory. Her attentions then turned to Tony and Charizard, though she didn't say a word. The silence was broken moments later when Tony couldn't stand the feeling that he was on display for her to stare at.

"Well?" Tony snapped.

"Nothing." Delia replied quickly as she turned her gaze elsewhere. With a nervous smile, she asked cautiously, "Have you decided which gym you were going to challenge first?"

"I was thinking maybe the one in Viridian City as it was the one I remember wanting to challenge first when I first got Charizard as a Charmander." Tony said with a sigh after realizing that he probably shouldn't have snapped at Delia.

"I bet it'll be interesting for you to take a tour around Viridian City to see all that had changed since you moved."

"Yeah, I guess..." Tony replied with a shrug. He really hadn't planned on staying in any city or town long enough to do anything but challenge the gym leaders and/or heal his pokemon when necessary. "What about you?"

"Me?" Delia asked. "I'm not usually into traveling, but..."

"But what?" Tony inquired after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

"I was... Well, I'd understand if you say no, but may I come along with you?" Delia blurted out unceremoniously.

"What? You want to come with me on my travels even though it'll probably be nonstop battling and training pokemon every step of the way?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Yes. The past few weeks were enlightening and besides, I still cook better than you do." Delia said with a smile.

"So, what are you saying? That I couldn't even boil water?" Tony said coolly.

"I... No, that's not..." Delia stuttered, mortified that she quite possibly sealed her fate.

Before anything else could be said, Charizard snorted a blast of hot air in Tony's face as if to say, "You can't even start a camp fire without my help, much less even worrying about heating up some water."

Tony's jaw dropped. Charizard had a point there. Tony was bad at cooking, even though he tried his hardest to practice.

"You're right." Tony sighed while looking at Charizard. Turning his attention back to Delia he said, "If you really want to come, it's fine with me."

"Wonderful. When the time's right, we can head off." Delia said with a joyful smile.

The sound of an approaching vehicle caught their attention. Once the vehicle was parked, a man got out of the driver's side first, followed by a woman several years his senior, a woman closer to his age and a little girl not more than four years old dragging along a well loved Clefairy doll.

"So, who wants to bet that Pop is here?" the man said in a way that indicated that they all had no doubt what so ever that the person they came to see was indeed at the laboratory.

"Who are they?" Tony wondered idly.

"Professor Oak's family. The professor spends so much time here studying pokemon that they usually have to come and visit him from time to time."

"Hmm." Tony turned his attention back to his pokemon. Family relationships was still a touchy subject for him. "It'll be another day or two before we head out. I need to gather some supplies first."

That evening Tony was introduced to Professor Oaks's family over dinner. The older woman was the professor's wife, Carolyn. The man was Professor Oak's son, Jerome, though everyone called him Jerry. Jerry's wife Robbie - which was short for Roberta - smiled and nodded at Tony before wiping up some spilled spaghetti sauce from her daughter, May's shirt.

* * *

Two days later, Tony double checked the supplies as he filled up the newly bought backpack. He even made sure to get several pairs of socks and underwear at Delia's insistence, much to his chagrin. Satisfied that he had the essentials, Tony made his way back to the professor's laboratory.

"Tony, what brings you here?" Professor Oak said over his shoulder as soon as Tony entered.

"Well, you wanted to see me before I left Pallet Town." Tony replied.

"Ah, yes. Indeed I did. You see, I spend so much time studying various pokemon that I'm afraid my Seaking is going to get bored quickly. I discussed the matter with Seaking and came to the conclusion that traveling is in its best interests."

"But what..." Tony interjected.

"What does this have to do with you? That should be obvious. I want to give Seaking a chance to go places other than to Professor Elm's Laboratory in Johto."

"I... don't know if I'm the best choice to travel with. I've already told you what happened between Chikorita and Charizard." Tony shook his head.

"How about a battle? I haven't done it in a while, and it'll be good to see your skill as a trainer. If you win, Seaking's all yours. If I win, Seaking gets released and if you choose to, you can attempt to capture it, though it'd probably mean another battle."

"Sure, but I won't go easy on you." Tony said with a smirk as they walked outside.

"I don't expect you to..." Professor Oak replied before releasing Seaking from its pokeball.

"Chikorita, let's go! Use vine whip!" Tony said as he tossed up the pokeball containing the plant pokemon.

Chikorita's vines shot out towards Seaking before Chikorita had even landed.

"Horndrill, Seaking." Professor Oak said calmly.

"What? Chikorita, be careful. Use Vine Whip to keep clear of the attack!" Tony called out.

"Chiko!" Chikorita exclaimed as it dodged Seaking's attack. In a burst of inspiration, Chikorita grabbed Seaking's pectoral fins with its vines and made as if it was going to throw Seaking but Tony's next command changed its course of action.

"Bring it in close and finish it off with Magical Leaf!"

Before Professor Oak could tell Seaking to counter the attack, the battle was over. Seaking fainted due to the close range attack.

"Well now..." the professor said with a grim smile. "That was something indeed."

"It was too easy though. Chikorita had a major type advantage." Tony replied.

"True, but it also has a trainer that can adapt quickly. Even if you had used Charizard, I believe the outcome would have been the same." Professor Oak recalled Seaking into its pokeball.

"Probably. I did train under Falkner back in Violet City. If I didn't also sit in and watch other trainers battle him, I wouldn't have picked up on that particular tactic... Though it's the first time I've had a chance to actually pull it off." Tony said with some thought.

"All the more reason for Seaking to go with you. I'm sure that you'll learn even more about water type pokemon than you currently know now." Professor Oak commented as they walked back into the laboratory.

"I see your point. Well, as soon as Seaking is okay, we'll head off."

"We?" Professor Oak inquired, as he placed the pokeball into a compartment of a wall sized machine. Instantaneously, the machine came to life and started humming as it began to heal and revive Seaking within its pokeball.

"Yeah. Delia wants to come along." Tony replied.

"I was sure she was going to stay here in Pallet Town." Professor Oak said, a bit unsure of what Tony just told him.

"I had assumed the same thing until she and Charizard convinced me otherwise. What else could I do? I can't say that it was boring to have her around and besides, Charizard knows me better than I know myself at times." Tony said with a slight chuckle.

A series of beeps alerted Professor Oak that the machine was done. Retrieving the pokeball from the machine, he handed it to Tony.

"Here you go. Seaking is completely healed. I have a feeling that things will be interesting on your journey."


	7. Chapter 7

Upon leaving the professor's laboratory, Tony found Delia waiting for him near the outer limits of Pallet Town's northern border.

"Shall we go?" Tony asked as he got within range to hold a conversation.

"Yes, let's go." Delia replied with a smile.

It took them four days to get to Viridian City, not that it mattered much to Tony. There were plenty of wild pokemon to battle. Granted that it was mainly flocks of Pidgey and Spearow, with just a smattering of bug pokemon like Weedle and Caterpie and an occasional Ratata or two. Tony however made no attempt to capture any of them.

"Any particular reason why not?" Delia had asked on the third day of the trip.

"Do you want the short list or the long?" Tony replied with an upraised eyebrow.

"Long one." Delia said with a grin, sure that there couldn't really be that many reasons.

"For starters, none of them caught my interests that much. Then there's the fact that it wouldn't be fair to the pokemon I have. I mean, when would I have to train them all? I spent eight years with Charizard alone, a number of them under the tutelage of Violet City's gym leader. Now I also have Chikorita and Seaking. Not that I'm complaining, since both are great pokemon..." Tony trailed off and forced out a sigh. "It sounds so pathetic when I vocalize my reasons for not catching more pokemon. It just wasn't in my game plan, really."

"That right there is all the reason you need." Delia said with a smile. "You don't capture more pokemon because you don't want to."

"How do you do it?" Tony mused.

"Hm? Do what?"

"You some how managed to put my jumbled thoughts and weak excuses in order."

"It just happens, I suppose." Delia shrugged.

"Hm." Tony took in his surroundings. The rumbling of his stomach brought him out of his revelry. With a faint blush and a nervous chuckle, he said, "Aw, geez. My inner Munchlax is grumbling. What's for dinner?"

Delia lightly laughed. "Rice balls with pomeg berries inside them."

"Sound's great!"

* * *

"Wow. There is so much about Viridian City that I completely forgot about." Tony muttered his breath.

Minutes into having first set foot within Viridian City had Tony pausing every now and then for remembrances peppered with nuances. It took them most of an hour to find the Pokemon Center, especially since Tony kept getting turned around and trying to go his 'usual' route that was only effective in Violet City.

"Well, you did mention wanting to see more of my old hometown." Tony said with a light chuckle. "Consider this the Backtracker's Tour."

After getting a clean bill of health for his pokemon, Tony hightailed it to the Viridian Gym. Disappointment emanated from just about every pore of his body when he read the posted sign that the gym was closed for remodeling.

"Shoot." he sulked. "Now what?"

"You could always show me the other parts of Viridian City that we haven't seen. Maybe where you use to live?" Delia replied from out of the blue.

Tony jumped in surprise. He wasn't sure why, but for a few brief moments, he had completely forgotten that he had a traveling companion.

"Yeah. I wouldn't mind seeing my old home myself. Provided that it's still there, that is." Tony said after he forced himself to calm down.

It took all of two hours and yet some more wrong turns - which Delia dubbed as 'detours' - before they arrived at the location of Tony's old homestead. 'Old' was too kind of a word. The building was more on the lines of ramshackle.

"That's too bad..." Delia said sympathetically.

"Hmm..." Tony replied with a nod. Shrugging, he added, "Oh well. Let's get going. If I remember correctly, there's a shopping district not too far from here."

"Great idea. We could use some more supplies." Delia said cheerfully before gasping in surprise and sharply turning to look over her shoulder.

"What is it?" Tony asked as he turned to try and get a glimpse at whatever it was that had made Delia nearly jump out of her skin.

"N-nothing. It was probably just a Gastly playing tricks, if anything at all." Delia's response sounded a bit forced to Tony, but he wasn't about to push it.

"If you say so..." Tony shrugged.

* * *

That evening, Tony and Delia headed back towards the Pokemon Center. Their shopping trip went without a hitch and now all they wanted to do was to get a good night's rest before heading off towards Pewter City in the morning. After storing their stuff in one of the rooms that the Pokemon Center provided as a temporary room and board for trainers, Tony turned to ask which bunk bed Delia would like to use.

"So, eh... which one would you like?" Tony asked nervously.

"I'll take this one right here." Delia said as she pointed to the lower bunk to her right.

"Then I'll go with that one." Tony pointed at an upper bunk on the opposite side of the cramped room.

For a few moments they stood in uncomfortable silence before Delia claimed she had to go to the restroom. Sighing with relief, Tony quickly dressed down to his boxers and climbed into bed.

"Good night, Tony." Delia said upon re-entering the room in her nightgown.

"See you in the morning." Tony replied before Delia turned out the light and went to bed herself.


	8. Chapter 8

The following morning was cool and crisp as Tony and Delia continued their journey north towards Viridian Forest. Making a pit stop in a mini-mart along the way, Tony made sure there wasn't anything they could have forgotten, including a map of Viridian Forest. He was not wanting to get as easily lost out there as he had within his old hometown.

His fears of getting lost seemed to have been vastly unfounded, however, as a few days later, Tony and Delia found themselves at the northern border of the forest. Once they arrived in Pewter City, they were immediately greeted by a man that attempted to sell them souvenirs that would forever remind them of their time spent at the rocky city.

"N-no, thanks." Tony said with a hint of nervousness. "The only souvenir I'm interested in acquiring is Pewter Gym's badge."

"Well then, you've met up with the right guy. I could take you there right now."

"Really? That'd be great, thanks!" Tony exclaimed as a grin was plastered on his face. "By the way, I'm Tony."

"And I'm Delia."

"Pleasure meeting the both of you. My name's Flint." The older man replied.

Flint practically gave them a full course on the history of rock Pokemon and the ways to work with them. Tony wasn't sure how much of what Flint was telling them was true or not, but before he knew it, Flint had led them to the Gym and had taken out the key to unlock the double doors. Entering the Gym seemed like such somber thing, considering that other than themselves, the building appeared to be completely devoid of life.

"It's so quiet. I wonder where the Gym Leader is?" Delia vocalized the very question that Tony had been swimming through his mind.

"Right here, actually." Flint replied as he lead them to the battling arena. He then went over to a table upon which, a number of pokeballs were placed. "You didn't think they'd just give the key to the Gym to just anybody, did you?"

"You're the Gym Leader?" Tony was mildly surprised. Suddenly it clicked over for him; the way Flint went on about rock type Pokemon and he alone seemed to know the nuances of battling with them. "It makes sense, I suppose."

"Shall we begin the battle?" Flint asked Tony with a small grin as he took his position on one end of the rocky field of the Pewter City Gym.

"Sure." Tony agreed, eager to have his first Gym battle in the Kanto region. "How many Pokemon?"

"Two each. If you win, the Boulder Badge is yours." Flint replied as he noticed movement from behind Tony.

"Hey, Dad." a young boy's voice called out. The boy, from what Tony guessed as he turned around, couldn't have been more than four or five years of age and nearly the spitting image of Flint. "I thought I saw you come in here. You aren't trying to sell more rocks to unsuspecting travelers, are you? You know how Mom gets when she finds out."

Tony could almost feel Flint's embarrassment from across the battle field.

"Not now, Brock." Flint said through gritted teeth, before facing Tony again. "Tony, this is my oldest son, Brock. Brock, this is Tony and his lovely friend, Delia."

"Hello." Tony and Delia chimed in unison.

"Hi." Brock replied to them before returning his attention to his father. "Are you having a Pokemon battle? Can I watch?"

"By all means..." Flint let the sentence fade off.

"I'll join you." Delia fell in step behind Brock to the grandstands. As they sat down, Delia decided to strike up a conversation with the boy. "This is an impressive place."

"Yeah, and someday I'm going to be the Gym Leader." Brock smiled as he looked up at her.

"Sounds like you're excited about it."

"Mhmm." Brock nodded, before returning his attention to the arena. "Looks like they're starting the battle."

"Chikorita, use Magical Leaf!" Tony commanded the plant Pokemon into action towards Flint's Graveler.

"Use Rollout, Graveler." Flint called out to the rock type Pokemon.

The two attacks collided with Chikorita's Magical Leaf bouncing harmlessly off of Graveler's rapidly blurring Roll Out.

"Watch out." Tony called out to Chikorita.

"Chiko-chiko!" Chikorita exclaimed as it did something totally unexpected. With fluid movement, the grass type Pokemon leaped up and landed on top of Graveler as it went by. It didn't even seem to break a sweat as it kept a steady balance on the still rolling rock type Pokemon. Graveler sped up as it attempted to shake off its opponent.

"Show off..." Tony muttered to himself as he watched Chikorita wave its head leaf at Delia as if it were performing at a circus instead of battling in a Gym. "Enough fooling around! Let's finish this with Poison Powder."

"Speed it up, Graveler! Roll Out once more!"

Chikorita jumped off of the still rolling Graveler and upon landing on the closest rocky outcropping, the plant Pokemon released a cloud of purple powder. Unable to stop in time, Graveler plowed right through the attack. The rock type Pokemon's rolling came to a halt as the poison took effect.

"Graveler's unable to battle." Flint called out as he recalled the Pokemon into its pokeball.

"All right!" Tony happily exclaimed before calling out to Chikorita. "Are you ready for your next opponent?"

"Chi!" Chikorita replied with an affirmative nod, though it appeared to be somewhat winded.

"In that case," Flint called out as he tossed up his second pokeball, releasing the Pokemon from inside it. "Let's go, Onix!"

The giant snake-like rock type Pokemon bellowed as it looked down at its diminutive opponent.

"Chikorita, use Magical Leaf." Tony called out.

"Quickly, Onix. Wrap up your opponent before it can launch its attack!"

Before Chikorita could tell what was happening, it found itself wrapped up with Onix's tail.

"No way! That Onix is fast." Tony exclaimed in disbelief.

Overcoming its own surprise, Chikorita freed its head leaf from between its own body and Onix's and managed to execute its Magical Leaf attack. The attack hit Onix head on, which caused the larger Pokemon to loosen its grip. With some effort, Chikorita squirmed out of Onix's clutches and landed a short distance away.

"Chikorita, use Synthesis!" Tony commanded the tiring plant Pokemon.

Chikorita closed its eyes and slowed its breathing as it concentrated on recovering its health. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the battle itself was indoors, Synthesis didn't do Chikorita much good. Taking advantage of the brief lull in the battle, Flint commanded Onix to Headbutt Chikorita, which caused the plant Pokemon to faint.

"Chikorita, return." Tony called out as he recalled Chikorita to its pokeball. "You did very well for your first Gym battle. And now, let's go Seaking!"

"King, seaking!" Seaking called out upon release.

"Let's get going with Horn Drill!" Tonly suggested to Seaking.

"Onix, use Headbutt once more." Flint called out.

The two Pokemon launched their attacks simultaneously, which seemed to have canceled each other out - though Onix was a bit more rattled than it let on.

"Sea, king seaking." the water Pokemon appeared to be a bit too eager to release its next attack - which it was determined to do with or without Tony's instruction.

"Let's end this with Water Pulse!" Tony exclaimed, not aware that that was the attack that Seaking would have used even if he had mentioned any other attack.

Seaking sent the attack flying like there was no tomorrow. It hit Onix directly in the face and caused the rock type Pokemon to faint.

"Onix can no longer battle. You've won." Flint said as he recalled his Pokemon.

"All right!" Tony smiled broadly as he had Seaking return to its own pokeball.

"Congratulations." Flint called out.

"Thanks. It was an interesting battle." Tony replied as he accepted the Boulder Badge from Flint.

"I couldn't agree more." Flint concurred as Brock and Delia joined the two of them near the sidelines.

After leaving Pewter Gym, Tony and Delia made a pit stop at the Pokemon Center before continuing on their journeys. 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 09

On their way to Cerulean City, Tony and Delia happened to meet up with a hiker at the base of Mount Moon. That unto itself wasn't a surprising thing, as the mountain was a well known landmark. The fact that the hiker was fretting over something just outside of the cavernous opening into the mountainside caught their attention.

"Is something the matter?" Delia asked once they were close enough to hold a normal conversation.

"I found out that in order to get my Pokemon to evolve, I would need to get a hold of some Moon Stone." The hiker, a girl name Kristy replied. "I wanted to get them from straight from the source, since buying Moon Stone at a store is so expensive. It turns out that I'm more than a bit freaked out by something in Mount Moon. Not sure what it was, but..."

Kristy shivered at the thought.

"That's a bummer." Tony sympathized with her, before attempting to change the subject. "Which Pokemon are you planning to evolve?"

"Here, I'll show you. J.P., Clif, c'mon out!" Kristy exclaimed as she tossed up two pokeballs. Upon release, a Jigglypuff and Clefairy preformed several flips in sync with the other before landing and posing cutely.

"How darling!" Delia commented with a smile.

"How long did it take you to get them to be so synchronized?" Tony asked, clearly impressed at the opening act.

"Quite some time, actually. You see, we're part-time performers when we're not entered in Pokemon Contests. We always practice when we can. J.P. and Clif seem intent in evolving and I promised them that as soon as we gave our previous performance, that I'd get them the Moon Stones they'd need."

"Maybe we can help your search for Moon Stone." Delia suggested.

"Really? That'd be great!" Kristy replied as she recalled her pokemon into their pokeballs and withdrew her flashlight. "Shall we go?"

Not long after going into the cavernous opening, the small group began to feel like they were being watched.

"It's starting to get freaky again..." Kristy said with a shudder.

"We should have run into some wild pokemon by now. I know that some can get very territorial." Tony replied as they continued walking through the winding tunnel.

Unable to shake the feeling of being watched, Tony released Charizard and Chikorita as Kristy released J.P. and Clif.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." Tony challenged under his breath.

"Cle - Clefairy!" Clif called out as it pointed at something floating in the shadows.

Whatever it was, Kristy's flashlight couldn't reach it.

"Charizard, help us out to see what it is!" Tony commanded of his fire-flying type pokemon.

Roaring once, Charizard let out a jet of fire, briefly revealing a crescent-moon shaped pokemon.

"What the..." Tony blinked. "A pokemon?"

At the sudden outburst, the unidentified pokemon rushed past the group with a few Moon Stones in its psychic tow. Roaring once more, Charizard launched itself after the pokemon, in hopes to challenge it.

"Charizard, no!" Tony yelled, just as it reached the other pokemon.

The crescent-moon shaped pokemon turned just in time to see Charizard breathing hot air onto it as Charizard attempted to restrain itself.

"Lu-tone. Luna, Lunatone, Lu." the pokemon said after looking around and spying J.P. and Clif. "Tone, Lunatone."

Just before the Lunatone took off, it released two of its collected Moon Stones into Charizard's clutches. Charizard landed near Kristy and gave her the evolutionary stones.

"These are for me?" Kristy asked.

With a growl, Charizard nodded and pointed in the direction in which the Lunatone took off, in attempt to indicate the Lunatone's apology for having scared her earlier and to give the Moon Stones as a peace offering.

"Awesome!" Kristy exclaimed. "Let's get outta hear first and foremost. Lunatone may be gone, but this place still gives me the creeps!"

* * *

After having witnessed a synchronized performance by J.P. and Clif, the newly evolved Wigglytuff & Clefable, Tony and Delia said their goodbyes to Kristy as they parted ways.

"Y'know what's weird? We never did see any of the wild pokemon inside Mount Moon..." Tony mused.

"Or find out who or what was watching us." Delia added.

"How odd." Tony shook his head. "Oh well. Last one to Cerulean City's a rotten Exeggcute!"

"Wait, what?" Delia exclaimed with surprise before racing after Tony.


	10. Chapter 10

"Cerulean City." Tony grinned as he and Delia reached the outskirts of the city. "We've finally arrived! Nothing against the wilderness, but it'll be nice to have a hot bath and a bed to crawl into."

"You act as if it's been years since we left Pewter." Delia said with a light chuckle.

"It feels like it, with all of the time we spent at Mount Moon. C'mon! Last one to the Pokemon Center buys lunch!"

"Oh brother," Delia sighed, shaking her head as she watched Tony take off towards the Pokemon Center. "I didn't sign up for racing in amongst all this..."

"Need a lift?"

"Hm?" Delia turned and found Cerulean City's Nurse Joy in the driver's seat of a sky blue colored jeep. "Yes, please!"

"I couldn't help but overhear his challenge to a race. I take it that the young man is your traveling companion?" Nurse Joy asked as Delia climbed into the jeep and buckled up.

"Tony? Yeah, though I'm more likely to be considered his traveling companion instead. He's the pokemon trainer. Speaking of which..." Delia paused a moment as they were about to pass by Tony. "You owe me a sushi bento box!"

"Wai- What? No fair!" Tony replied. His jaw dropped as the jeep sped up and drove away.

* * *

"Thank you for the lift, Nurse Joy." Delia said with an appreciative smile.

"You're quite welcome, Delia." Joy replied as they exited the jeep and headed to the Pokemon Center's main entrance.

Several minutes passed by before Tony arrived slightly out of breath and more than a little annoyed. By the time he reached the cafeteria booth that Delia was sitting at, lunch had already been ordered and placed on the table. Tony quickly picked up his drink and chugged down at least half of the glass's contents before heaving a sigh and slouching across the way from Delia.

"I believe the bill is yours." Delia smirked.

Tony merely grumbled an unintelligible remark.

"You brought it upon yourself, you know."

Grunt.

"Tony Ketchum, you better snap out of whatever foul funk you're in." Delia warned tersely.

"Sorry." Tony shook his head to clear his mind. "Not sure what had gotten into me. Let's see that bill, hm?"

"Actually, the meal was on the house." Delia smiled, happy that Tony was himself again. "At any rate, have you worked out a strategy against the Gym Leader?"

"Not really. I m not even sure what kind of pokemon will be used." Tony mulled a number of random thoughts through his mind.

"Water."

Tony and Delia both jumped in their seats. They turned and saw that Nurse Joy had silently approached their table.

"Sorry for startling you." Nurse Joy said with an apologetic smile. "Gym Leader Sakura likes using water type pokemon in battle."

"Thanks." Tony replied gratefully.

"No problem." Nurse Joy said before continuing on her rounds.

"Hm The water type." Tony mused. "If it's just about types alone, I'd have a win, a loss, and a draw on my hands. Good thing it isn't just about types!"

Now Tony was really getting fired up about his next major battle. While wolfing down his food, Tony nearly choked a couple of times.

"Slow down, won't you? It's not like the Cerulean Gym's going to revert to a pumpkin patch at the stroke of midnight!" Delia chided.

"Maybe not, but why risk it?"

Delia simply sighed at that. Trainers will be trainers, right? Especially certain over-eager ones.

The rest of their meal passed by in relative silence.

* * *

Standing in front of the Gym, Tony and Delia took in the scenic view of the decorated building. The walls were painted in aquatic shades of blue, while the roof was a darker shade of blue with what appeared to be a life-sized Cloyster statue positioned on the top.

"Mm. At least they don't hide their interests." Delia commented before they entered Cerulean Gym.

"But did you notice how nicked it is? It's almost as if it's been through many battles itself." Tony replied.

"That's because it has."

Tony and Delia's attentions were turned to the woman who had just spoke. Her deep sky blue hair hung down around her face, ending an inch or so past her chin. Her medium blue body suit started at her chest and ended at her ankles with flowing teal-green sheer material that started under the bust-line and ended a few inches above the ankles. No sign of footwear was in sight.

"Cloyster and I've been through many battles together and it occasionally likes sunbathing on the roof in between them. Welcome to Cerulean Gym. My name is Sakura and I'm the Gym Leader. Are you both here to take the challenge?"

"He is, I'm just going to watch." Delia replied.

"Alright. I hope you don't mind my three daughters watching as well. I want them to see how battles turn out should they take over the Gym one day."

"It's fine by me." came Tony's response as he and Delia followed the barefoot Gym Leader to the arena.

"Daisy! Lily! Violet!" Sakura called out.

"Like, we're coming, Mom!" a girl's voice replied.

Moments later, three girls of varied hair colors and ages came into the arena, followed by Sakura's battle worn Cloyster.

"Take your places, girls. I have a new challenger."

"Aw, do we have to watch another battle? It's, like, so boring!" Daisy moaned.

"Watching battles could be very educational, Dear."

"True, that. I learned quite a bit about battling via watching and training under Falkner back in Johto."

Daisy gave Tony a quick 'if looks could kill' glare for taking her mother's side, before she joined her sisters and Delia in the spectator's stands. Tony stood on one end of the aquatic arena as Sakura went to the other end. Most of the arena was a pool for water-type pokemon to move around with relative ease. Floating platforms were strategically placed into the pool for pokemon to stand upon.

"Three pokemon each sound good to you?"

"Great. And to test the waters, I choose Seaking!" Tony sent out his goldfish pokemon to start the battle.

"You're up, Cloyster." Sakura motioned towards the pool.

"Cloy!" the bivalve pokemon exclaimed eagerly as it jumped into the pool with hardly any splashing of the water's surface.

"Fury Attack, Seaking!" Tony called out.

"Withdraw, Cloyster." Sakura calmly told her pokemon.

Cloyster immediately closed its shell tightly a split second before Seaking's attack made contact. With each failed hit, Seaking became more and more frustrated, which not only fired up its determination but also caused it to tune out any verbal command given.

"Hm. Seems your Seaking's a bit hotheaded. Like pokemon, like trainer, perhaps?"

"I wasn't Seaking's original trainer." Tony said with a low growl. "I don't know if it has a chip on its proverbial shoulder, but Seaking has helped me out a number of times. We've become friends within the short time we've been traveling together."

"It still looks like it needs to cool down. Cloyster, use Ice Beam!"

"Horn Drill!" Tony growled.

Seaking ignored Tony's command and chose one of its other attacks in its place. Cloyster's Ice Beam stopped Seaking's Water Pulse in its tracks and upped its Ice Beam's power until Water Pulse was cancelled out completely.

"Seaking, cut that out! I told you to use Horn Drill, not Water Pulse!" Tony exclaimed in frustration.

"Oh dear." Delia muttered from her spot in the stands.

"Such a pity that Seaking won't listen to you." Sakura commented. "It seems that even though you and Seaking are good friends, it still doesn't trust you enough to follow orders."

"S'pose you're right. Seaking, return!" Tony growled as he recalled the water pokemon, irritated about the fact that the Gym Leader was right and that he had failed to notice it before now. He had been so sure that the relationship between Seaking and himself was going so well that he had been blind to any possible warning signs. Just as he was going to pull out Charizard's pokeball, Chikorita released itself from its own pokeball.

"Chiko!" the grass-type pokemon exclaimed.

"Chikorita..." Tony sighed. Things just weren't going his way with this battle. He wanted to use Charizard to finish things off. Closing his eyes for a moment, he took a deep breath. With a renewed burst of energy, he snapped his eyes open. "All right, use Vine Whip!"

"Ko-Chiko!" Chikorita lashed at cloister with its vines but got annoyed that most of its hits landed on Cloyster's battle scarred shell.

"Ice Beam, once more!" Sakura called out.

"Dodge it Chikorita. Get as close as possible and use Magical Leaf!"

Leaping from platform to platform, Chikorita just barely managed to avoid Cloyster's attack. A number of platforms weren't so lucky - they froze over making the surfaces nearly impossible to safely stand or even maneuver on. Moments later, Chikorita launched its attack directly into Cloyster's face, causing the water-type pokemon to faint.

"Cloyster, return." Sakura recalled her pokemon into its pokeball. "Impressive. Your Chikorita is swift and has good aim. I call out my next pokemon, Tentacool."

Tentacool appeared the next instant in the pool.

"Mm, a Tentacool. Poison Powder'd be no good." Tony mused. "Chikorita, Vine Whip!"

"Chiko!" Chikorita exclaimed, sending its vines out.

"Wrap this up, Tentacool." Sakura ordered.

"Cool, Tentacool." Tentacool lashed out with its tentacles, effectively stopping Chikorita's Vine Whip and doing some damage to the grass-type pokemon.

"No, Chikorita!" Tony exclaimed in shock. As the Wrap attack continued to dwindle Chikorita's energy, Tony changed tactics. "Use Synthesis, NOW!"

"Chi..." Chikorita uttered as it attempted to restore its health. Mid-way through, Chikorita began to glow, bathed in a white light.

"What the..." Tony blinked in surprise.

Tentacool released its opponent as it began to change shape and grow larger. A moment later, the sudden evolution finished and Bayleef stood on the very platform that it had been on as a Chikorita only moments before.

"Bay, bayleef!" the newly evolved pokemon exclaimed.

"All right!" Tony cheered. "Bayleef, use Vine Whip!"

"Bay." Bayleef shook its head at Tony.

"No? Why not?" Tony asked, puzzled at Bayleef's refusal.

"Leef, bay bay!" Bayleef exclaimed as it let out a new attack at its opponent. A flurry of flower petals swirled and pummeled Tentacool into unconsciousness.

"Oh, I get it." Tony knew that a pokemon could only know a handful of moves, and Bayleef must have forgotten Vine Whip to learn Petal Dance.

Sakura recalled Tentacool into its pokeball before sending out her final pokemon.

"Lucky break, that. There's still a chance for me to even up the odds though. Vaporeon, go!"

"Vaporeon!" the bubble jet pokemon exclaimed upon release, landing gracefully onto a platform.

Before Vaporeon could defend itself, much less receive orders from Sakura, Bayleef's Petal Dance attack kicked in once more. The attack hit the water-type pokemon head on, though as the attack died out, Bayleef became confused.

"Snap out of it, Bayleef!" Tony pleaded, his hands balling into fists.

"Water Gun, Vaporeon, now! While your opponent is distracted." Sakura commanded.

"Va... Va..." Vaporeon uttered, still a bit winded by the previous attack. A moment later, it jumped into the pool and attacked the confused Bayleef.

"Bayleef!" Tony reached for Bayleef's pokeball, but stopped himself short as he noticed that the Water Gun attack snapped Bayleef out of its confusion. "Are you able to continue?"

"Bay..." Bayleef panted, a bit worse for wear.

"Let's finish this with Magical Leaf!"

"Bayleef, bay!" With a sudden burst of energy due to its Overgrow ability, Bayleef's attack dealt extra dammage to Vaporeon, causing it to faint while still in the water.

"Take a break, Vaporeon. You did your best." Sakura said as she recalled her pokemon.

"All right, Bayleef!" Elated, Tony forgot for a moment that he and Bayleef were on separate platforms and a second later, he found himself flailing about in the water.

"Tony!" Delia cried out as she rushed out of the stands.

"Ohmigaw-"

"Like, no way!"

"Is he going to be okay?"

The three sisters muttered amongst themselves.

"Bayleef-leef!" Bayleef worried about its trainer's situation.

Meanwhile, Sakura dived into the pool and swam to Tony's location.

"Calm down, Tony." Sakura commanded as she grasped his vest with one hand and attempted to restrain him with her free arm.

Within moments, Tony managed to regain some resemblance of composure, though he felt more than a bit worn out from the ordeal. As the reached the side of the pool, Bayleef and Delia helped lift Tony out of the pull as Sakura aided him up.

"Bayleef." the grass-type pokemon extended a vine to help the Gym Leader out of the pool.

"Thank you." Sakura replied, accepting the help.

"Tony, you really goofed up this time." Delia chided with concern.

"A regular goofball," Tony joked dryly between coughs. "That's me, all right."

"C'mon. We have to get you out of those soggy clothes and dry you off." Sakura commented.

Tony sputtered a bit at that as his face turned a few shades darker than a beet.

"Relax. My husband's home. Us women won't see anything revealing. Girls, go get your father."

"Yes, Mother!" The trio chimed just before leaving.

* * *

"Thanks again." a thoroughly dried off Tony said gratefully.

"You're quite welcome, Tony." Sakura replied as she stuck her right hand out. "Though in all that excitement, you forgot something."

"Oh?" Tony was puzzled for a moment before noticing the object in Sakura's outstretched hand. "Oh! Right! All right! The Cascade Badge is mine!"

After acquiring the Cascade Badge, Tony and Delia bid Sakura farewell and left the Cerulean Gym.


	11. Chapter 11

"Charizard, Bayleef, Seaking, c'mon out." Tony called out in the currently empty Pokemon exercise yard behind the Cerulean City Pokemon Center.

Seaking landed in a pool of water that had a low wall surrounding it, while the other two pokemon stood nearby on the ground. Delia was not in sight as she felt that Tony and his pokemon needed a little one-on-three alone time.

"Guys, we need to talk." Tony sighed as he sat on the wall surrounding the pool. Looking at Seaking, he continued. "You first. Seaking, is it true that you don't trust me completely yet?"

"Sea..." the goldfish pokemon hesitated for a moment. "Seaking, sea. King-king, seaking."

"I see." Tony sighed again. "I guess it's true that I've been asking for quite a bit from you without offering much in return. You have to understand though, and this goes for you too, Bayleef... I would never ask you, ANY of you, to do something that I thought you couldn't handle. If it appears that I'm asking too much, or giving preference to one of you three over the other two, I want to apologize here and now."

"Bayleef, bay-bay."

"The thing is, Charizard and I have been together for years, Bayleef. We have a very tight bond. I want to make nearly the same bond with you and Seaking. It just... takes time, trust and patience."

Charizard growled a response.

"Yes, and understanding too. Preferably without the petty arguments about who does what, where, how and why. I trust all three of you with my life and I'd be tickled pink if you'd at least consider the same for me."

Charizard roared its response. Of course, Tony could count on the fire-flying type pokemon.

"Bay, bayleef bay." Bayleef needed no further convincing, but it couldn't guarantee that it'd never argue or battle with Charizard again.

"King..." Seaking was still a bit hesitant. It had spent so much time with Professor Oak and there was the time with Professor Elm. But on the other fin, it did want to travel and Tony happened to be at the right place at the right time for that that to happen. "Seaking!"

"All right. Now that that's been settled, Bayleef, I wanted to congratulate you on evolving."

"Bay..." Bayleef blushed happily. "Bayleef."

"Quick question, though. What move was replaced with Petal Dance? I thought it was Vine Whip at first, but I think you used it to help me and Sakura out of the pool."

"Bay, leef leef." Bayleef said as it showed off weakened versions of the attacks it knew.

"Poison Powder, Magical Leaf, Vine Whip and..." Tony ticked off as he watched the attacks. "Synthesis got replaced?"

"Bay!" Bayleef nodded. Since it didn't live on its own in the wild anymore, it felt it could rely on Tony to help it get stronger. Who knows, maybe it could beat Charizard in a battle one day.

"Mm. Okay, guys. Let's go get some grub and tuck in for the evening. Today was long, but the road from here to the Indigo Plateau is even longer. Tomorrow, we head out."

* * *

For days after having Cerulean City's southern border, Tony put extra effort in training all three pokemon. Usually he had Charizard be Seaking and Bayleef's opponent if no other traveling trainers or wild pokemon appeared, though he sometimes switched the three of them around for different combination experience.

The day before they were to reach Vermillion City, Tony and Delia set their campsite up a bit earlier than usual. As Delia was preparing the evening meal, Tony released his pokemon from their pokeballs to have a bit of rest and relaxation.

Sighing, Tony sat on a medium sized boulder and blankly stared out into the horizon for a few minutes before closing his eyes.

"What's wrong, Tony?"

"Gah!" Tony's eyes snapped wide open as he floundered and attempted to prevent himself from falling off the boulder. When he stopped floundering, Tony realized that Delia had a firm grip on one of his arms to help keep him steady. Tony took several deep breathes to slow his pounding heart and collect his now scattered thoughts.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." Delia apologized, releasing his arm when she was sure that Tony wasn't going to fall from the boulder.

"S'alright." Tony said, once he was able to speak again. "I... well... I was just realizing what tomorrow's date was."

"Tomorrow's date?" Delia looked at him curiously as she sat down beside him. "It's March twenty-first, right?"

"Yeah. It's also my nineteenth birthday, but the first one not celebrated with family." Tony sighed wistfully. "I feel as if I've become..."

Silence permeated the air as Tony let the sentence die out.

"...An orphan." Delia finished the sentence with a sad understanding. Before Tony could ask her how she knew the feeling, she continued. "Both of my parents passed on a few years ago. After their deaths, I didn't have the heart to keep the family business running or to even stay in Pallet Town. For a while, I traveled with a group of trainers and the rest, as they say, is history."

"Sorry to hear that." Tony uttered a few moments later.

"Thanks." Delia replied with a small grateful smile. A slighted blushed turned her cheeks rosy pink. "Say, Tony..."

"Hmm?" Tony glanced in her general direction.

"I was wondering..." Delia paused as she felt her heart pounding crazily within her chest. "May I be considered part of your family? I realize we've only known each other for a short period of time, but it seems like... like.."

_'Oh, God. If my heart beats any louder, they'll be able to hear it all the way back in Johto!'_ Delia's mind was mentally shouting.

"...Forever?" Tony asked, attempting to finish her sentence. At Delia's nod, Tony turned his head and gave her an appreciative grin. "I like that idea. After all, we orphans have to stick together, right?"

"Right!" Delia replied happily, her pulse beginning to slow down. Turning back towards the campfire, she added, "Dinner time!"

* * *

"Good morning, Birthday Boy!" Delia called over to Tony as he stretched, yawned and began to clime out of his sleeping bag.

"'Morning." Tony muttered as he rubbed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, Tony's mouth began to water as the scent of something delicious being cooked. "Mm. What's cooking?"

"An old family recipe I learned from my parents a long time ago."

"And does this recipe have a name?" Tony wondered as he wandered over to the cooking pot to have a look.

"Hm. If I were to name it, it'd be N.B.D. - Nameless, But Delicious." Delia said with a grin.

"Sounds mysterious." Tony's interest piqued, but his curiosity changed the subject. "I was wondering, what was your family's business?"

A flicker of sadness flashed across Delia's face, but before she replied, she was smiling again, albeit a bit forced.

"Both of my parents were chefs. They were always teaching me something new at the restaurant when I was younger."

"I bet that you were a pro even back then." Tony smiled, encouragingly.

"Hardly!" Delia laughed, glad that her forced smile was replaced by a truly happy smile with the fond memories. "I nearly burned Pallet House to the ground a few times."

"Mm, something to use as blackmail, eh?" Tony joked.

"You wouldn't!" Delia exclaimed in mock surprise.

"You're right, I wouldn't." Tony laughed. "I'd probably wind up cooking my own goose, if you weren't around. Besides, we're family now. Being a dysfunctional family is something I try to avoid. Strange family if you count the fact that the pokemon members out numbers the human ones, but one I can live with."

"Speaking of pokemon, call them out. I made enough for everyone."

"Charizard, Bayleef, Seaking! You heard her. C'mon out, it's breakfast time!" Tony said as he grabbed the pokeballs and released his pokemon from within them.

Long after breakfast was finished, Tony and Delia entered Saffron City's Pokemon Center. Upon making sure that they had a room for the night, Tony was all but ready to drag Delia along with him in his search for the Gym.

"Tony, hold on." Delia paused before reaching the glass double doors of the Pokemon Center. "I... um.. want to take a nap while you search for the Gym. I woke up so early this morning to make breakfast, that I'm totally worn out."

"Oh... Sure, Delia. I understand." Tony said with the faintest hint of disappointment. "Have a nice nap."

"Good luck with the Gym." Delia replied as Tony left the Pokemon Center. Heading back to the reception desk, Delia asked, "Nurse Joy, may I ask a huge favor?"

* * *

"Aha!" Tony exclaimed quietly to himself. "Saffron Gym."

Standing out in front of the Gym, Tony was again wondering what mysteries the building before him held. Reaching out for the front door's handle, he found that he was locked out. Tony was about to knock, when he spotted a notice hanging nearby.

"Gone to the Dojo. Be back soon. - Gym Leader Gloria." Tony read out loud. "Swell. There's no telling how long ago her soon her was meant to be... or where the Dojo's at."

Sighing, Tony began to walk away from the closed Gym, when a gut feeling told him to look up at the building next door. A large sign indicated that it was the Karate Dojo, and chances were, that it was the one and the same Dojo that he could find the Gym Leader in. Approaching the Dojo, Tony could hear what sounded like a heated debate escalating inside the building.

"Great..." Tony muttered dryly. "A cat fight in the Dojo. I should just walk away and look for the Gym Leader another time."

"...You dare challenge my Gym for official status?" A female voice yelled.

"Uh-oh..." Tony took a step back. "Doesn't sound good at all."

Grabbing a pokeball in each hand, Tony dashed into the open-doored Dojo, even though a mental voice was screaming that he should leave well enough alone.

"Hello? Is something wrong?" Tony asked, barely able to hear his own words above his loudly thumping heart as he came across the two people.

"Beat it, Kid. This is a private conversation." came the gruff response of the Dojo's leader.

"If it's so private, why'd you leave the front door wide open?" came the sharp-needled response from the woman that Tony realized had been yelling moments earlier.

"Shaddap." the Karate Master growled under his breath.

"I apologize. You did catch us at a bad time. On the other hand, I also thank you for interrupting what could have escalated into another turf war."

"Another turf war? You mean this happens on a regular basis?" Tony blinked a few times in confusion.

"Unfortunately, yes. My Gym was sanctioned by the Kanto Pokemon League to be Saffron City's official Gym years ago."

"Your Gym?" Tony's eyes grew wide. "Then that means that you must be Gloria. I want to challenge you to a pokemon battle."

"Fat chance that do you, Kid. She's tied up right now. Soon as I beat her pokemon, my Dojo will be on top!" The Karate Master sneered.

"My name is NOT 'Kid'. I am Tony Ketchum, and I challenge you as well!" Tony growled dangerously, his infamous temper flaring up again.

"Well, this is a fine conundrum. What if we have a three way doubles battle, two pokemon each? That way, whomever winds up on top gets their wish." Gloria suggested.

"Wouldn't that be too risky for your official status?" Tony asked, his irritation temporarily forgotten.

"Maybe, but no Dojo leader has ever successfully beaten a psychic-type pokemon Gym Leader in all of Saffron City's history."

"I'll prove that statement wrong when I defeat you. I accept the challenge!" the Karate Master growled.

"Eh.. hehe." Tony nervously chuckled, before becoming seriously psyched. Clenching his pokeballs tightly, he gave a smug grin. "Okay... It's a bit odd, but hey, I'm game."

"It's settled then. Why don't we have the battle here? You did insist upon my coming over..." Gloria let the sentence hang.

"Agreed. Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, prepare yourselves." the Karate Master released his two fighting-type pokemon.

"Kadabra. Hypno."

"Charizard! Bayleef! Let's do this!"

The four remaining pokemon came out of their respective pokeballs, ready for battle.

* * *

"I wonder what's taking him so long. From what Nurse Joy showed me on the map, finding the Gym and coming back here would have taken an hour, tops." Delia muttered to herself as she idly ran a finger around the top rim of the cylindrical cake cover.

Although she told Tony that she was going to take a nap, shortly after Tony left, Delia convinced Nurse Joy to let her use the kitchen facilities for a while. Fully expecting Tony to have shown up by now, Delia made a simple one-layered cake with the words 'Happy Birthday Tony' on it. That was baked, cooled and frosted over an hour ago. It was nearing the two hour mark, and still no Tony in sight. Delia felt that she was waiting so long, that her butt wasn't going to be the only body part falling asleep on her.

Before she realized it, a sudden thump coming from her left caused Delia's eyes to snap open and her hand to grasp the cake cover's knoby handle & blindly flail the hard-plastic object in a horizontal arch. A reverberating bong caused her to slowly turn her head. Delia's eyes grew huge as she saw the stunned form of Tony with a thick stripe of a welt across his face where the cake cover made contact.

"Oh my gosh!" Delia quickly abandoned the object onto the table. "Tony, I'm so sorry!"

Several moments later, Tony held an ice pack to his face while trying to convince Delia that there was no permanent damage.

"Really, Delia. I'm okay. Honest." Tony winced as he moved the ice pack from one side of his face to the other. "Besides, I should be apologizing to you for taking so long. I found the Gym and you'll never believe what happened next!"

"You battled and won?" Delia verbalized the most obvious option.

"Yeah." Tony said, sounding a bit deflated before recovering quickly enough to add, "but it wasn't a normal battle. Did you know that this city has two gyms, even though only one of 'em has official status?"

"Really?" Delia asked, interested to hear all that took place as she divided the cake.

"Uh-huh. There's the official Gym that's lead by Gloria and there's the martial arts Dojo that's lead by some rash, hot-headed Karate Master. Never did find out his name. Scary part is, he reminded me a little of myself." Tony slightly shuddered at the thought, before adding under his breath, "no wonder the dojo isn't officially sanctioned..."

"How'd the battle go?" Delia asked, attempting to get the conversation back on track.

"It wound up being a three way doubles battle, with the Karate Master's pokemon being the first two to be completely knocked out. Gloria's pokemon were a bit tougher to take down, but Charizard and Bayleef were ultimately able to take them out." Tony said, taking the Marsh Badge out of one of his vest's many pockets with his free hand. "And there's my proof."

"Wow, congratulations!" Delia exclaimed.

"Thanks." Tony's face was flushed with happiness and a touch of pride at his earlier achievement. Putting his ice pack down, Tony noticed that the cake had been cut into seven pieces. "What's with the odd number?"

"Nurse Joy and Chancy should each get a piece. They didn't have to lend me the use of the kitchen. The rest is for us." Delia explained.

"Ah. Makes sense." Tony nodded in understanding before releasing his pokemon to join in the party.

As was a birthday tradition between Tony and Charizard, the duo mock wrestled. It, as usual, ended with Tony's hair being tousled, and Charizard lightly head-butting its trainer.

"You win." Tony smirked at his fire-flying type pokemon. "Only thing tougher than a stubborn, hot-headed human is a head-strong, fire breathing, flying pokemon that puts up with the aforementioned human."

Charizard snorted and nodded as if to say, "You got that right!"

"Chan-chansey!" the Egg Pokemon called out as it and Nurse Joy arrived at their table.

"Happy birthday." Nurse Joy happily told Tony as she spied the badge. "And congratulations on your win at the Gym."

"Thanks." Tony replied as Delia served the cake to human and pokemon alike. "I just don't know where I'd be right now without my 'family'."


End file.
